Dark times

It is not as bad as it sounds but on the weekend we changed back from daylight savings and gained on hours sleep, yay! But it is a lot darker outside now, it is dark already by 5 pm and it is 2 more months to go before it starts getting brighter outside again. Not to worry, we will have to light candles and use the fireplace to get lighten up the evenings a bit. And after a dark winter it makes me appreciate the summer and the long days a lot more.

This time of year in the gardening diary is for getting things ready for winter, raking leaves and stowing away outdoor furniture. I mowed the lawn for the last time this year, unfortunately I didnt completely finish, our lawnmower doesnt work anymore so I borrowed the neighbours lawnmower till I broke it... But it wasnt the first time it had broken like this, they had temporarily put it back together and it was just a matter of time before it would break again but I still felt bad. I only had a tiny little square left in the middle and the little bit at the front of the house, anyway, it will have to survive till spring when we get the robot lawn mower installed. I cant wait! But because of all the leaves on the lawn I had to use the catcher and I probably moved something like 15-20 metres at a time, then I had to empty it, another 15 metres, stop and empty and so on. Quite annoying but still a lot faster than raking it all into piles and using the wheel barrow.

We have also hung a little bird feeder in the plum tree at the front porch to help the little birds survive winter. A lot of birds travel south to Europe and even Africa but some stay over winter and it is quite nice to sit at the breakfast table and watch them.

We have also, actually not we but Stephen, invested in a pool table and a Playstation 2 with a whole heap of games including guitar hero with 2 guitars, a drum kit, and a microphone. It will all go in the boys room. Now he is looking for a sofa as well to make it a bit more loungy. I think he is planning the first pool competition in 2 weeks time, while I am away on a girls weekend.

Stephen has not only been shopping for the boys room, he has picked up on his swedish studies again. I hope I can support him more from now on and actually speak at least some swedish with him and not always take the easy way out and speak english. Mum and dad are now speaking mainly swedish with him and it works well on the understanding side of the fence, it is a bit more difficult speaking but hopefully this course will help him a bit further.